The Michigan Supreme Court threw out charges on Tuesday against former Governor Rick Snyder and eight public officials involved in the 2014 Flint Water crisis, saying a one-man jury wrongly indicted them.
Attorney General Dana Nessel, who took office in 2019, authorized using a one-man grand jury rather than charging officials in open court. That one man — Democrat-appointed Judge David Newblatt — issued the indictments after considering the evidence behind closed doors.
Chief Justice Bridget McCormack called the one-man jury a &#8220;Star Chamber comeback,&#8221; referencing 17th-century English court proceedings held in secret and abused by high-ranking officials.
However, Michigan&#8217;s highest court <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/580161798/MSC-Flint">ruled</a> unanimously against the wrongful charges, noting state laws &#8220;authorize a judge to investigate, subpoena witnesses, and issue arrest warrants.&#8221;
&#8220;But they do not authorize the judge to issue indictments,&#8221; McCormack wrote.
&#8220;To this day, the defendants do not know what evidence the prosecution presented to convince the grand jury (i.e., juror) to charge them,&#8221; she wrote.
Justice Richard Bernstein concurred, writing separately that Nessel&#8217;s office &#8220;invoked obscure statutes, specifically to deprive defendants of their statutory right to a preliminary examination.&#8221;
When an attorney general authorizes a one-man grand jury, state law grants the right to a preliminary examination that disqualifies the judge who conducted the hearing.
A few of the defendant&#8217;s lawyers challenged the indictments, which also applied to Snyder and others, asking for a preliminary examination. However, officials denied the motion, &#8220;holding that indicted person have no right to a preliminary examination.&#8221;
The Associated Press reported that &#8220;the attorney general&#8217;s office had no immediate comment on the decision.”
Snyder&#8217;s legal team described the court&#8217;s opinion to The Associated Press as &#8220;unequivocal and scathing.&#8221;
&#8220;These prosecutions of Governor Snyder and the other defendants were never about seeking justice for the citizens of Flint,&#8221; Snyder&#8217;s lawyers told The Associated Press. &#8220;Rather, Attorney General Nessel and her political appointee Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud staged a self-interested, vindictive, wasteful and politically motivated prosecution.&#8221;
The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-crime-michigan-indictments-rick-snyder-609f461af3bb2d7f10a40c5d663620eb">reported</a> Snyder acknowledged his administration&#8217;s failure in Flint by calling it a crisis born from &#8220;a breakdown in state government.&#8221;
Before the state&#8217;s highest court threw out charges against Snyder, he faced two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty.
Former Health and Human Services director Nick Lyon and Michigan&#8217;s former chief medical executive, Dr. Eden Wells, were charged with involuntary manslaughter for nine deaths.
Six others were also indicted on various charges: Snyder&#8217;s longtime fixer, Rich Baird; former senior aide Jarrod Agen; former Flint managers Gerald Ambrose and Darnell Earley; former Flint public works chief Howard Croft; and Nancy Peeler, a state health department manager, The Associated Press reported.
&#8220;The Democrat-majority Michigan Supreme Court has slapped down Dana Nessel&#8217;s abuse of power and ruled her political witch hunt illegal,&#8221; Tori Sachs, executive director of Michigan Freedom Fund, a non-profit conservative advocacy group, said in a statement. &#8220;Dana Nessel&#8217;s legal ineptitude cost Michigan taxpayers millions of dollars while she weaponized the judicial system to attack her political opposition.&#8221;
Sachs said before Michigan&#8217;s Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday, &#8220;[it] was the only state in the nation using one-person grand juries to target citizens with criminal charges.&#8221;
A <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2021/01/25/michigan-judge-charging-republicans-in-flint-water-crisis-history-donating-democrats/">report</a> by The Daily Caller reveals the judge who served as a one-person grand juror previously donated to Democrat politicians.
The Flint Water crisis began in 2014 when health officials changed the city&#8217;s drinking water supply from Detroit&#8217;s system to the Flint River to save money. But poor corrosion control treatments and testing of the supply resulted in fatal and other serious health issues for Flint residents. As a result, lead and other contaminants permeated the water, which infected 91 people and killed 12 others in the Flint area.
A judge approved a $600-million settlement in 2021 for the victims of the Flint water crisis, saying it&#8217;s &#8220;a fair and sensible resolution of the claims against the settling defendants.&#8221;

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Top Michigan Court Ruled Former Republican Governor And Other Public Officials In Flint Water Crisis Wrongfully Indicted